Invisible Cities (album)
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| Invisible Cities | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 February 2021 | |||
| Length | 42:16 | |||
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| Producer | ||||
| A Winged Victory for the Sullen chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Invisible Cities | ||||
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Invisible Cities is the fourth studio album by ambient music duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen. It was released on 26 February 2021 by Artificial Pinearch in association with Ninja Tune. The album was composed as the score of a 90-minute multimedia theatre production that was inspired by Italo Calvino's 1972 novel of the same name.[1][2] The record relies prominently on an instrumental production featuring piano chords, arpeggiated strings, and distortion.[2] Music critics were generally favourable towards the album, with particular praise towards its instrumental soundscape.
Invisible Cities follows the duo's 2019 studio album The Undivided Five.[3] The duo, composed of Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O'Halloran, have previously composed scores for numerous films and televisions,[1][2] and so they were commissioned to compose the score for a 90-minute multimedia stage production directed by video designer Leo Warner.[1][2] The album was essentially conceived as the score of the dance theatre production.[4]
The production's stage was inspired by Italian writer Italo Calvino's post-modern novel Invisible Cities (1972), which was written as a string of conversations between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.[4][5] It premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2019. It was slated for a worldwide tour to follow, but the COVID-19 pandemic struck and all plans for tour events post-lockdown were scrapped, with the production practically shut down.[1][2][4] Wiltzie explained in an interview:
Four months is not a lot of time to create 90 minutes of music for a production using classical theatre, dance and high res video mapping on a stage the size of two football pitches.
The release of the album Invisible Cities was announced in December 2020, alongside the release of the album's cover art and tracklist. The track "Desires are Already Memories" was also delivered as the lead single from the album.[6] The album was finally released on 26 February 2021 by Artificial Pinearch in partnership with Ninja Tune.[3]
